McNally/Hall: Proposals on migration crisis lack sufficiency

Problem less about enforcement than human development

Updated 8:14 pm, Friday, June 27, 2014

The prevailing debate over the surge of unaccompanied minors illegally entering the U.S. is missing the mark: It has shied from resolving the pervasive issues that are at the root of the phenomenon.

An immigration enforcement crisis?

Not exactly.

Immigration enforcement does help control the pull factors that attract migrants to the United States, but it is too myopic to form the basis of long-term policy solutions. It fails to consider the push factors, particularly the dire economic and security problems behind this migration wave.

President Barack Obama has called the influx an "urgent humanitarian crisis." That gets the focus closer to the face of the problem: the people - in particular, the children. What we have on our hands might be more aptly called a human-development crisis.

According to the United Nations' Human Development Index, key indicators like per capita income, education, life expectancy and socioeconomic inequality in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. In short, there is little hope or promise for a better life.

In stark contrast, the U.S. has one of the highest levels of human development in the world, and its southern border is closer to Guatemala than Houston is to Washington, D.C.

A long-term solution to stemming these migration flows requires cooperation and strategy aimed at these entrenched social issues.

To that end, Vice President Joe Biden, addressing the regional scope of the problem, last week pledged $93 million to fight gang violence in Guatemala as well as to support shelters in El Salvador and Honduras.

The truth is that all of these policy prescriptions - increasing aid along the border and in Central America, as well as effectively managing the border - have merit.

But they lack sufficiency.

Much of the dialogue surrounding this issue remains superficial and partisan, hung up on the narrow effects of push and pull factors observable from this side of the Rio Grande.

A spike in violence from organized crime in Central America is indeed pushing people to migrate to the U.S., while word has gotten out in Central America that unaccompanied minors and women with children have been granted permisos - or permits - to stay in the U.S., especially if they can connect with family here. Deportation remains a possibility for these people, though, because such permits merely grant a 30-day window to appear before immigration officials.

Americans must start to look at the bigger picture.

How we frame these dilemmas will directly affect the solutions we devise, and both of these approaches - even Obama's earnest call to mitigate a "humanitarian crisis" - do not completely address the causes of the problem.

The safety and dignity of the thousands of children who have recently arrived in the U.S. should remain an immediate priority.

Both the U.S. government and the public must also look beyond reactionary, stopgap measures like detention and deportation to manage migrant flows.

With Biden's aid announcement, the administration clearly recognizes that violence in Central America is the key push factor fueling the exodus northward, and such international cooperation is precisely what is needed.

It is concerning, however, that this aid might be viewed as a quick fix instead of the beginning of a greater undertaking to address the intersection of immigration and development.

Moving forward, the conversation and the resulting policy solutions need to focus on fundamental initiatives like curbing violence, not just fighting it. Violence is merely the result of numerous social issues plaguing these countries, and eradicating conflict on the streets will require a much broader plan aimed at improving education, rule of law and economic opportunities in the region.

Throwing money at already limited governments and law enforcement agencies is not enough; prolonged multi­lateral cooperation with Central American governments and civil society is vital if the U.S. really wants address the broader problems at hand.